Attachment for braces.



H. N. BRAY 6L1. W. FORSTER.

ATTACHMENT FOR BRACES. APPLICATION FILED mm. II. 1918.

Patented Sept. 24, 1918.1

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- ATTA HMENT Ton BnAoEs.

To all whom it may concern:

Be -it known that we, HORATIO N. BRAY and JAr/ms wo FQRSTER, both subjects of the King of Great Britain, and residents of the city of Montreal, inthe Province: of Quebec and Donnnlonof Canada, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Attachments for Braces, of which the following is a full, clean-and exact'description.

This invention relates to improvements in attachments for braces, and-the ob ect of the invention is .to provide means whereby anordmary brace maybe used "for: boring holes at anyangl'e to the bracelaxis, thus doing away with the necessity of a special angle brace. r At the present time, when it isdesired to bore a hole close to'andfparallel with a wall orfloor, it: is necessaryt'o employ a special angle brace as the wall or floor interferes with the movement of thesweepor crank of a straight brace. According to this vention, an attachment for, an ordinary straight brace is provided, which enables the brace to be used as an angle brace and in addition permits the angle to be adjusted, which is not the case with the ordinary angle braces at present on the market. Adjustable angle braces have been described in prior patents, but so far as is known there has been no attachment produced which enables an ordinary straight brace to be converted to an adjustable angle brace.

The invention consists essentially in providing a universally jointed shaft, one end of which screws on to the clutch body of the brace and the opposite end of which replaces the clutch body and receives the clutch sleeve and clutch jaws belonging to the brace. The universally jointed shaft is mounted within apair of sleeves, which are hingedly connected and provided with means for adjust ing their angular relation, so that the angle through which the jointed shaft operates may be regulated.

In the drawings which illustrate the in- ,vention Figure 1 is an elevation of the device showing the brace parts in dotted lines.

which is externally threaded in the well Specification of Iietters Patent. a lication filed March 11,1918. Serial mamas, j

knownm'anner. to receive thesleeve 12 and provided with a slot 13 for the reception of the chuck jaws, which are not shown.

The attach'rnent made in accordance-with ed to cooperate with the-threads-of the I chuckbody, and is-provided ltoward one endwith a polygon'al' portion 17 to enable it toibe screw'ed-on and off thebr'a'ce. The :other :shaft section 15 is providedwith an external thread 18 I exactly similar to the thread of the chuck body 11 and is also-provided with-a slot 19eXactly. similar tothe slot 13. It will thus be seen that the chuck sleeve -'12 and the chuck jaws may be re- :moved fromthe brace and the shaft section '14 screwed on in place thereof. The chuck jaws may then be inserted in the slot 19 of the shaft section 15 and-secured in place by "the sleeve 12 of the brace. In this way, the

tool holding portion of the brace is transferred to the extremity of the attachment.

In order to support the jointed shaft and regulate the angle between its parts, sleeves 20 and 21 are provided surrounding the shaft portions 14: and 15 andare connected at their adjacent ends by a hinge 22. The remote ends of these sleeves are provided with lugs 23, to each of which one end of screw threaded rods 24 are connected. One of these rods is threaded right hand and the other left hand, so that when the right and left threaded nut 25, into which both rods screw, is rotated, it will cause the lugs 23 to be drawn together or forced apart so that the angular relation of the sleeves is varied. The guide thus formed merely floats on the jointed shaft and will automatically retain its position as long as the shaft is in angular form. a

In Figs. 2 and 3, a slightly alternative form is shown; the variation residing in the substitution of other'means than the right and left screw for adjusting the angular relation of the sleeves. Either of the shaft sections, but preferably section 14, is provided with a series of circumferential teeth 26, which form a rack entirely around the shaft and are adapted to mesh with a' small pinion 27 mounted between lugs 28 formed on the sleeve 20. By rotating the pinion 27 the shaft may be moved axially through the sleeve, thus altering the relation of the universal joint and hinge 22, so that the angular relation of the sleeves will be varied. In order to hold the pinion in any desired position, a small stop 29 is pivoted to one of the lugs 28 and engages in the recessed top of the other lug, as shown in Fig. 3. This stop engages between adjacent teeth of the pinion and holds the same against rotation. In order to hold the stop in either its depressed or elevated positions, it is provided with a heel 30 occupying a slot 31 in the lug to which it is pivoted and engaging a leaf spring 32 secured to the lug. This spring is provided with a hump 33, over which the heel of the stop must ride When disengaging the pinion. As this movement necessitates flexion of the spring, it will be understood that the stop will be held in its depressed position and also that, when elevated, it will not fall back to closed position, but force must be exerted to cause the heel to again pass over the hump and resume its original position.

The operation of the device is obvious from the foregoing description and further explanation is not necessary.

The device may be easily and inexpensively constructed ofinalleable castings or drop forgings and will serve to convert an ordinary straight brace into an adjustable angle brace. When once the attachment is applied to a brace, it will not be necessary to remove the same, as the jointed shaft may be adjusted into a straight line. When an angle brace is found necessar a moments adjustment of the attachment will convert the straight brace to an angle brace.

Having thus described our invention, What we claim is p 1. An attachment for braces, comprising a jointed shaft detachably engageable at one end with the stripped chuck body of a brace and formed at the opposite end similarly to said chuck body, whereby it is adapted to receive the chuck jaws and sleeve of the brace.

2. A device according to claim 1, having a tubular guide for the shaft formed of hingedly connected sections, and means for adjusting the joint of the shaft with relation to the hinge of the, sectionsv and thereby varying the angle of the shaft parts to each other.

In Witness whereof, we have. hereunto set our hands.

HORATIO N. BRAY. JAMES W. FORSTER.

Gopies of this patent may be obtained for five cents each, by addressing the "Commissioner of Patents.

Washington, I). 0. 

